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by Mike Schramm 
Nov 18th 2008 at 6:00PM
I have to agree with Lowangel: where's the upgrades? We all knew that the gear dropping in Northrend wasn't quite going to be as huge a jump as it was when we headed off to Outland, but I was only dressed in late Karazhan gear, and at this point, close to 73, I've upgraded one thing. I thought I'd get a little upgrade -- time and time again, I've picked up soulbound quest items, only to have to vendor them off because they don't have the hit I worked to get or the extra Agility on top of the Stamina I've already got.As much as I appreciate keeping the epics on, it is a little disappointing that I may not actually get new gear for ten levels (indeed, many of the folks who cleared the PvE content already were dressed in their old gear as well). Dressing yourself in clown greens is embarassing, but having no upgrades at all is a problem in the opposite direction. Bornakk says to be patient and that we'll find upgrades soon enough (and I have, to his credit, already seen a few nice rep items that I'd want, even if I don't have the rep to buy them yet). There are upgrades out there.
But so far, I've only hit a few sidegrades and hardly any clearly better gear than what I had before. How about you?
Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Quests, Expansions, Leveling, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 7)
Gnarlynarz Nov 18th 2008 6:38PM
I haven't replaced any gear on my mage, my main, but i have picked up some pretty sweet upgrades for my rather
shodily geared shaman alt.; overall, I think as far as quest gear was this time around, the upgrades are more of a progression from a leveling character, rather than a t1-3 raider upgrading as soon as he stepped through the portal.
Khadan Nov 18th 2008 6:38PM
Whats with so much emphasis on Haste too btw?
I'm a mage decked in kara to t5 epics and I've so far only replaced my neck item. 74 at the minute. I have seen a few good items but anything decent seems to lack some key stats and I end up just vendoring it.
Mind you I'm not complaining, I worked hard for my epic loots!
Skarlette Nov 19th 2008 6:17PM
Same here. My mage is just short of level 74 and I'm still wearing the same exact gear I had on a month ago. I'm sporting ZA/Hyjal/Gruul/Mag/The Eye/Isle badge gear, all roughly T5 equivalent, and I'm not finding any real upgrades, just tons of Haste gear. I
've kept a few trinkets, rings, etc, in case they come in handy, but all the crit and hit that I'm looking for, I'm just not finding. Or if I find it, that's ALL the item has on it...no stam, int, or anything else. On one hand it's a bit disappointing not to be finding cool upgrades constantly, but on the other it makes me feel good that all the months of raiding and badge farming weren't wasted effort. Besides, I have tons of alts to gear up who have never set foot in a raid instance. :p
Frago Nov 18th 2008 6:41PM
Just another example of Blizzard going over board and catering to the cry baby Raiders.
Don't you remember the outrage and tears of grief when all the Raiders replaced their tier armor within 2 levels of stepping through the Dark Portal?
I sure do. Now of course Uber raiders Furor and Tigole swing the rod completely opposite and even PVP BLUES that I bought from Rep vendors are still way better than anything I have seen 3/4 through lvl 74.
Silverlynx35 Nov 18th 2008 6:44PM
Forgive this if it double posts.
I think part of the problem is that there is a traffic jam at level 70 with gear. While there is a difference between fresh 70 and Sunwell gear, it's not as pronounced as the difference between 60-70. The result is that any Northrend upgrade likely covers a broad range of gear. Blizz was left with the choice between "I worked hard for gear, I shouldn't have to replace it right away" and "This rhino just dropped a replacement for my Warblade, WTF?" After the complaints that followed TBC about raid gear being easily replaced by Outland greens, I think they just went the opposite direction this time.
SaintStryfe Nov 18th 2008 6:56PM
Reasonable. I think next time, they'll get it right.
Kai Nov 18th 2008 6:48PM
I'm at 74, main set OK but nothing too special (made up of mostly gear from Kara/Gruuls, with a little badge gear and the ubiquitous event giveaway epics). The only item I've upgraded for my main set was the last blue item I had left.
My dps off set though (which was of a similiar quality to my main) I could have upgraded twice, maybe three times over going from 70 - 74. Maybe it's just the quests I'm choosing, but the mail options I get for quest rewards are nearly all attack power ones.
Not stressed about it though. I'll be sad to be rid of my epics, specially the Kara ones I got pre-patch which I actually felt I had to work for, so I'm in no urgent hurry. Quest rewards are getting close to being upgrades for my resto epics at this point. I expect to have to start culling the purples pretty soon and haven't even started on dungeon loot.
Mats Nov 18th 2008 6:46PM
Level 75 lcok, in T6 gear.
Only sidegraded a trinket. It had 1 spelldamage more, and a more leveling oriented use. Nothing comes close to challange the gear I have with the enchants/gems it has on it.
Kiki Nov 18th 2008 6:51PM
I've been leveling my baby druid first, who hit 70 less then a week before WotLK, acquired a few pieces from Kara and heroics before it.
Now he is almost 78 and all of the gear is replaced, most of it in Dragonblight. Have not run an instance with him yet.
On the other hand my warlock who is in late T5+ won't be getting an upgrade other then her helm for a long, long time.
stevens.ce Nov 18th 2008 6:47PM
My mains (hunter and spriest) are in full PVP/Kara/Grull/Badge gear, so I suspect they won't replace much (although at 71 I've already sidegraded my bow to get rid of that stupid looking hawk crossbow from Kara). But my warrior, who does not heroics, will like changes lots of stuff, as will my lock that's moving up and is only 62 now, and my death knight.
While the current state stinks for folks who have great gear from TBC, it's a good setup for alts that are leveling - they'll still have a really nice progression in blues and greens. And I'm not sure I care too much about the lack of new gear for my mains - I like my old gear and how it looks, and I don't relish the early days at 70 in TBC when everyone looked like they were at the same clown convention. Nice earned 70 purples make us all look unique....just like everybody else :-)
hold up Nov 18th 2008 6:49PM
I havent upgraded anything on my tanking druid as of yet at 74 and after looking at the drops I don't know if ill be upgrading anything until level 80. At 70 I was T5/Badge geared and doing T6 content.
I realize there probably a few things I could pick up along the way. I think it's mostly because I'm stubborn and I really like my epics. I worked hard for them, I'm gonna get the most out of them :)
Chris Nov 18th 2008 6:50PM
There is one huge difference between the two expansions. Stamina. Thats when they started costing stamina much less on items so an item in BC and Vanilla wow with exact same item level the BC one would have 50% stam, or if not more points in other stats because of the cheaper costing. There was no such change in this version. Also there seems to be a lack of sockets in gear between 71-79 that causes 70 gear to remain strong.
Alan Nov 18th 2008 6:51PM
My shadow priest hit level 70 on the Saturday before the expansion was released. Needless to say, she was in almost all greens with a couple epics I had made along the way.
After hitting 72 and finishing the Nexus questlines, I have replaced all of her gear with the exception of one trinket.
I think people forget that there's an entire subset of the WOW community that hasn't been epic'ed out at 70 for months upon months.
Rekranar Nov 18th 2008 6:51PM
I still have season 2 armor, but i have replaced my rings and trinkets. The thing that I noticed is that the gear is mostly for new players. When leveling new characters now, their probably not going to stop at lvl 70 and raid for weeks and weeks for gear like we all did, so going into Northrend the gear is an upgrade.
Grey Nov 18th 2008 6:52PM
76 Shadow Priest here. Replaced a ring and necklace. Otherwise still wearing my frozen shadoweave. Upgrades plz k thx
ash Nov 18th 2008 6:52PM
I have not seen much worth upgrading to, but I have not gotten that far into the game yet. Its wortt noting that the gear isn't so mismatched for quest greens like in BC. The quest gear from Borean and Howling all seem to have a motif. I noticed this when looking at some quest rewards I had stocked in my bags. But, it was further confirmed when I looked at the pictures Zack posted for early quest pickups.
Tildy Nov 18th 2008 6:54PM
You're level 72, and complaining that you have only replaced one thing considering the gear level you were at? That's one opinion - that even epic level gear should be replaced within the first 2 levels of expansion content. I would tend to disagree, though.
Trem Nov 18th 2008 6:55PM
It seems like a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation for Blizzard.
From Vanilla to TBC people complained because their epics were immediately replaced with greens. Now our TBC epics are lasting us well in to the mid-70s and people are complaining that there are no greens/blues to replace their old gear.
John Nov 18th 2008 6:56PM
I couldn't agree more with the author. I'm lv 72, and so far have only replaced a ring, and a backup trinket. I've had some pretty nice dungeon drops too--about a dozen blues have come my way so far. I think one of the major factors here, is that our lv 70 epics usually have 2-3 epic gems, and the best enchant for that item based on our class. Equal level blues from Northrend match up well initially, but can't compare when you consider the gem and enchant bonuses. In my opinion, it's also not worth getting all epic gemmed and enchanted out until you get a level 80 set. I've also found that if I replace my S2 gear with a blue, I lose the "set bonus" which is particularly bad for my class in particular (loss of 10 energy). As we reach the high 70's and of course 80, is when I expect to really replace everything.
Jon Nov 18th 2008 6:59PM
On my level 74 mage, I've upgraded everything except for 5 of the 6 epics I had (Googles, S2 weapon/OH, S4 wand, Dark Iron Smoking Pipe).
But then, I never ran a single heroic or raid in BC because I took 15 months off shortly after the BC launch.